MINISTER FOR Health James Reilly has called for improvements to be made to the system used for issuing and renewing medical cards after reports of long delays for patients.
Dr Reilly said patients were the last people who should be “left in the lurch” as a result of problems in the system used for processing medical card applications.
His comments come after the head of the HSE’s Primary Care Reimbursement Service yesterday apologised for the delays, which have left some patients unable to obtain medication.
The backlog follows the centralisation of the processing of medical cards, from more than 100 offices around the State to one central office in Dublin last July.
More than 100 GPs in the northeast withdrew from primary care teams last month in protest at the delays.
National director of the Primary Care Reimbursement Service Paddy Burke said attempts to process medical cards within 15 days were being hampered by the high volume of applications being received and the large number of incorrectly filled-out forms submitted.
Mr Burke said the rise in unemployment had led to an increase in applications for medical cards with over 90,000 new applications received last year.
He also said that up to 35 per cent of applications received were incorrectly filled out which had added to the delays being experienced.
Mr Burke also admitted that the application system needed to be simplified to cut down on errors made in applications.
